Water conservation is a major concern in many areas and is likely to become even more important in the future as populations increase resulting in more water consumption. Practicing water conversation on a regular basis has many benefits including saving money both in the short term and long term. In the short term, water conservation saves the consumer money by reducing a consumer's monthly water utility bill. In the long term, consumers save money by postponing, or even preventing, the building of new water supply infrastructures, thereby reducing the per unit cost (or slowing the increase in cost) of water.
The bathroom is one area where water is often needlessly used. In fact, the largest daily user of water in the commercial establishments is the urinal and in homes is the toilets. To conserve water use, low water use urinals and no-water urinals and other fixtures have been devised. These no-water urinals are not flushed with water each time a person uses the urinal and, in fact, they are not equipped for flushing as they are not connected to a water supply. As the no-water urinal is repeatedly used, most urine is collected in a compartment of the urinal while some passes through the drain. An oily sealing liquid that is immiscible with the urine and is lighter than the urine covers the collected urine. This oily sealing liquid floats on the surface of the urine, serving as a barrier that prevents odors from the urinal from escaping to the environment. Typically, such no-water urinals include a removable cartridge having a top with an opening in communication with the compartment holding an initial water charge that mixes with urine flowing into the compartment through the opening. A stand pipe type drain is in communication with the compartment that allows the compartment to be drained continually to a sewer or other waste disposal system as the compartment is filled with urine. Dry traps using mechanical valve or small p-traps are also used to prevent odor from escaping while still allowing urine to pass.
A disadvantage of these no-water urinals is that the urinals are specially designed to accept these removable cartridges. For an institution to convert from water-based urinals to no-water urinals requires the complete replacement of the existing water-based urinals. This can be an expensive and time-consuming process.
It is desirable to provide a fixture drain insert which may be used in present water-based urinals to convert the urinals to low-water or no-water based urinals.
It is desirable to provide a fixture drain insert which may be used with existing traps and fixtures to permit the passage of used fluids and urine while preventing sewer gas from escaping.